National Public Radio

National Public Radio (NPR) is a not-for-profit organization which produces and broadcasts various radio programs including news, talk shows, and entertainment. The audience of NPR listeners has grown exponentially since the organization's inception in 1970. Currently, NPR reports that 26 million Americans tune in each week.[1] Not only does NPR boast a large weekly audience, it also produces the two most listened-to radio programs on public radio: Morning Edition and All Things Considered. A November 2005 poll claimed NPR to be the most trusted radio-broadcast news network in the United States.[2]

NPR, along with PBS, has been accused of tailoring its broadcasts toward a liberal point of view, making it little different than the mainstream media it claims to compete against. According to NPR, "NPR supports its operations through a combination of membership dues and programming fees from over 860 independent radio stations, sponsorship from private foundations and corporations, and revenue from the sales of transcripts, books, CDs, and merchandise. A very small percentage -- between one percent to two percent of NPR's annual budget -- comes from competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts."[3]

Controversies

I think he ought to be worried about what's going on in the Good Lord's mind, because if there is retributive justice, he'll get AIDS from a transfusion, or one of his grandchildren will get it."[5]

New Orleans-based National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu said of Christians,

The Rapture, and I quote, 'is the immediate departure from this Earth of over four million people in less than a fifth of a second,' unquote. This happily-volatilized mass of the saved were born again in Jesus Christ....The evaporation of four million people who believe this crap would leave the world an instantly better place.[6]

Michel Martin, host of NPR’s Tell Me More, on CNN had this exchange with Margeret Carlson:

MARGARET CARLSON: And wouldn’t it be a great thing if they moved it a few blocks? And Muslims and Americans who still worry would be talking to each other. Let’s compromise.